About Us

Roedown

Mark and Elizabeth are owners of Roedown. Mark directs the development of Roedown and Roedown Research R2. He is responsible for its strategic plan and daily operations. Elizabeth is the CFO for Roedown, directs the development of the Kitchen Garden and manages the power and energy projects. Channa is the Stable Manager running the day-to-day operation of Roedown Horse Boarding, LLC. Drew is the main machine operator and mechanic as well as the blacksmith. Jose and Amador are farm hands skilled with horse handling, gardening and maintenance.

Mark grew up on a farm in Herefordshire, England, that reared sheep, and produced cider apples, wheat and barley. The farm business experienced external shocks such as the fallout of Strontium 90 from the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster, the transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), foot-and-mouth disease and Bluetongue disease or catarrhal fever. From this, he saw first hand, the impacts and challenges faced by agencies tasked to respond. He gained experience in the family business H.P. Bulmer, learning about production, marketing and sales. Mark has a PhD in physics and astronomy, is a chartered geologist with 18 years of international experience in pure and applied fields of geology, remote sensing, natural disaster and emergency planning, Climate Change Adaptation, GIS, plus instrument design. He has worked with NASA, ESA, CSA, Response and Development Agencies, Defense Departments and commercial companies. As a Research Associate Professor in the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology and in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems at UMBC he also taught at undergraduate and graduate levels. He has authored papers in international and national scientific journals, technical reports and guidelines, trade articles, policy and strategy white papers, educational course work and materials. In 2010, he became a NATO Civil Expert on Civil Protection, is UN OCHA trained in Civil Military Co-ordination and in the conduct of infrastructure assessments. He has held leadership and management positions in military and civil organizations and has experience working in real, synthetic, and simulated environments. He has conducted strategic planning related to disaster mitigation, resilience and response, as well as climate change and adaptation strategies. Mark is an adviser to the National UK Co-ordination Agency for Fire and Rescue Aid. He sits on the wise council at the Bulmer Foundation which runs a Masters Degree in Sustainable Development Advocacy that trains graduates to become experts in sustainable development and apply this thinking to the real world in business, in policy making or in the community. The Bulmer Foundation was renamed The Brightspace Foundation in 2016. He is a Science Advisor to Upstream Research. He is an honorary research associate in the Department of Earth Sciences, University College London.

Elizabeth grew up in Washington, DC, spending her summers as a child on the Chesapeake Bay and on her father’s family farm in Upper Marlboro. Having worked within the family business at Ruppert Real Estate she has experience in property management, remodeling and construction. She has a PhD in Economics and 20 years of experience working internationally for the World Bank specializing in labor economics. She has held leadership, management and technical positions working on Algeria, West Bank and Gaza, Dominican Republic and Haiti as well as on global trade. She has authored papers in international and national economic journals.

Channa has worked around horses all her life and at Racing Stables where she is a leading trainer in Maryland. She specializes in all aspects of Thoroughbred care, foaling and foal care, starting of two year old’s and yearlings, as well as in Veterinarian care. She is experienced in all types and uses of bandages, tracking and updating daily nutritional needs of all horses, giving IV and IM injections, and administering Veterinarian care orders. She is a small scale breeder and owner and trains her own runners.

Drew has over twenty years of experience working with horses and on farms in Maryland. He has also worked in automotive sales and has been around repair shops most of his life. In 2013 he became an apprentice Master Gardner. That same year he took a Blacksmith’s course and now that we have built a forge, he has been developing his skills as the blacksmith at Roedown. He and Mark operate the farm machinery.

Advisory Board

Roedown benefits greatly from the members of its advisory board who are drawn from a diverse range of backgrounds deemed relevant to our mission, values and ethos. We are also extremely grateful to Herbert Wayson who has farmed in the area all his life and has been an invaluable source of knowledge and hard learned wisdom.